Students in DCU and UCC are more likely to secure a coveted first class honours degree than their counterparts in Trinity, UCD and the University of Limerick (UL), new figures show.
The Higher Education Authority (HEA) figures also show a dramatic increase in the overall number of firsts, a trend which may raise fresh concerns about "dumbing down" across the university sector.
At DCU, 26 per cent of degree students secured a first in 2005, more than double the percentage in 1998. At UCC, 20 per cent attained a first. The percentage of students gaining a first has risen significantly at NUI Galway and Maynooth (up 7 per cent) and Trinity (up 5 per cent) in the past year.
The trend mirrors what is happening at second level, where the number of students securing honours at Leaving Cert level has increased by more than 20 per cent in several key subjects including Irish, English and maths since 1989.
Firsts are attained by 16 per cent of Trinity students and 14 per cent of UL students. NUI Maynooth (18 per cent) and NUI Galway (18 per cent) are in the mid-range when it comes to the number of first class degrees awarded.
University College Dublin does not return a full set of results to the HEA, meaning about 40 per cent of its students, mainly arts graduates, are not included in the figures. But of those students who are returned, 13 per cent gained a first and 26 per cent a upper second-class honours (2:1) degree.
The HEA figures show at least three-fifths of students in five of the seven universities graduated with either a first or a 2:1 degree in 2005. The exceptions are UL (47 per cent) and UCD.
The figures confirm the difficulty of gaining a first in medicine and in other health disciplines. Just 6 per cent of UCD students and 7 per cent at UCC secure a first in this area.
When figures for both firsts and 2:1 honours degrees are combined, UCC and Trinity emerge as the universities where students appear to have the best prospects; 72 per cent of all UCC and TCD honours degree students secured a first or 2:1, compared with NUI Galway (67 per cent); NUI Maynooth (66 per cent) and UL (47 per cent).
One in five honours graduates at UL secure only a third class honours degree, compared with 2-3 per cent in other universities.
More details of the HEA report will be published in Next - The Irish TimesLeaving Cert supplement on Wednesday.